Two wonderful days in Antigua, Guatemala

We had originally planned on staying just one day in Antigua, but all of the amazing things we heard from other travelers convinced us to stay an extra day. We were really glad we did. Antigua is beautiful. The church ruins, cobblestone streets and volcano views really make it a unique place. We mostly wandered around the town for two days, doing almost nothing of significance, and really enjoyed ourselves. 

We never got tired of walking under or taking pictures of the

Arch of Santa Catalina.

Volcán de Agua is in the background.

A view of La Merced church from the rooftop terrace of our hotel

Our favorite hour in Antigua was spent walking around the ruins of the Church of San Francisco. Most of the church, which was a large cultural center and monastery, was destroyed in the 1773 earthquake. The church has been restored, and there is a museum there as well. The ruins of the monastery are open to the public for a very small fee of around Q5 ($0.75). Everywhere we walked throughout the ruins was another amazing photo opportunity. There were very few tourists, and it almost felt like we had the place to ourselves. There was a large market in the parking lot of the church as well. As we were leaving we bought some fresh fruit to eat as we continued our stroll around Antigua.   

 

The front of the Church of San Francisco

The ruins and Volcán de Agua

These awesome flowers made the ruins even more beautiful.

More Church of San Francisco ruins

We also enjoyed all of the time we spent hanging out in the Parque Central. It is a large park in the center of town that was always bustling with people. The first day we were there was a Sunday, and there were families picnicking or enjoying ice cream everywhere we looked. Tourists were everywhere, too, but almost everyone was just relaxing. We definitely made this the place from which we started and finished every other venture. 

Parque Central on a perfect Sunday afternoon.

The Cathedral of San Jose across from Parque Central with a chicken bus sitting in front of it.

The fountain in Parque Central

We ate at a variety of restaurants/cafes at varying costs. We had some pretty good Thai, Indian and Italian food. The bagel sandwiches at one of the Bagel Barns were a great budget lunch. We also tried a few street food items and had some delicious pork tacos at a little bar near Parque Central.

This outdoor market was impressive. It felt like it went on forever. Anything you can imagine needing/wanting is sold here.

If we go back to Antigua we will do a tour/hike to Volcán Pacaya and possibly visit a coffee plantation nearby. And we definitely want to go to Lago de Atitlán, which is only two hours or so from Antigua. It looks incredible. But for this trip, we were happy that we chose to relax and wander around Antigua for a couple of days. It just didn’t feel like the kind of place you’d enjoy as much if you were rushing around.

Another view of Volcán de Agua from the rooftop terrace of our hotel. This was our pre-Superbowl beer on the roof. We watched the Superbowl from a bar a couple of blocks from our hotel later that night.

Our whole trip from Roatán to Copán to Antigua was 10 days. I would recommend all of it to other travelers. Until two days before we left on the trip, we admittedly hadn’t even heard of Copán and didn’t know how beautiful Antigua would be. This unexpected trip was one of our favorites.